Thursday's Afternoon Update

What you need to know about Florida today

| 3/6/2014

Insurers Take The Lead To Reach Florida Latinos

For all of California’s troubles advertising to Latinos, that state has embraced the 2010 health law and is spending millions of dollars to get people to sign up. Florida is a different story. Florida has a high rate of uninsured Latinos — almost 10 percent of all the country’s uninsured Hispanics who are eligible for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act live in the state. More at Kaiser Health News.

Expanding telemedicine reduces costs, improves access to care

Statewide expansion of telemedicine could save Florida more than $1 billion annually, according to a report from Florida TaxWatch, the independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy research institute and government watchdog. Read the full report.

Miami software company raises $9.3 million in funding

Food and Nutrition

Florida's Food Deserts

Food deserts, areas where fresh and healthy foods can be hard to come by, are all over Florida.

There are efforts under way in the Florida Legislature to provide tax incentives for grocers to open up in these areas.

PrestaShop, a Miami-based e-commerce software company, on Thursday announced it has secured $9.3 million in a Series B funding round led by XAnge Private Equity, Seventure Partners and Serena Capital. More at the Miami Herald.

Proposed bill brews trouble for Florida's craft beer breweries

A new bill could tap out craft beer in Florida. Rep. Ray Rodrigues wants to make a law that would prevent new breweries from selling beer right from their own taps. More at WESH.

Increase in cyber attacks costing millions, stressing internet

Crashing websites and overwhelming data centers, a new generation of cyber attacks is costing millions and straining the structure of the Internet. While some attackers are diehard activists, criminal gangs or nation states looking for a covert way to hit enemies, others are just teenage hackers looking for kicks. More at Reuters.

Out of the Box Are online games a waste of time or relief for the mind?

Whether for relaxation or diversion, full time workers are squeezing time into their schedules for mobile games. They are launching flying birds, flicking onscreen candies and building words on virtual boards using their smartphones or tablets. Spil Games reports about 700 million people play online games, or about 44 percent of the world’s online population. And those numbers are expected to rise.